Study: Nebraska could be facing a $600-billion wealth transfer

There’s a tremendous amount of wealth in the Husker State and that wealth could be on the move out of state without action now, according to Jeff Yost, president and C-E-O of the Nebraska Community Foundation.

Yost says, “Statewide, we think the transfer of wealth here in Nebraska is some $600-billion over the next 50 years.” That transfer, he says, comes when accumulated wealth is passed on from one generation to the next.

Yost says, “If their children no longer live here, that transfer of wealth can potentially leave our communities, so not only did we lose that human resource some time ago, you lose that financial capitol if in fact the parents pass away and the wealth transitioned someplace else.”

He says Nebraskans can help increase those dollars by pledging a small part of their estates to the foundation’s affiliated funds in the future.

“We have tremendous wealth in our communities,” Yost says. “Many times it’s hidden because we live modestly and people don’t flaunt what they have. We have a very conservative nature here and that means most people are excellent savers. These are assets in our communities. If people would consider giving back 5% of what they have within their estate plan, consider treating their home town as another ‘child’ in their estate plan, these sorts of things can make a tremendous difference.”

Speaking in Norfolk at the foundation’s recent annual meeting, Yost said more than seven-thousand gifts were made to the organization’s affiliated funds across the state last year, with gross receipts totaling $32-million.